Stephanie Lynn Smith, a 29-year-old Texas woman, died of COVID-19 just five days after what was supposed to be her wedding day, her family said. Smith and her fiance, Jamie Bassett, had their wedding date set for November 13 in Lubbock, Texas, but she fell ill just days before their special day, NBC News reported.
The couple had decided on holding just a small ceremony for their parents at the same field where Bassett proposed to Smith, with her older brother officiating, the outlet reported. Just before the wedding date, however, Smith became ill and ended up spending her special day in the hospital after testing positive for COVID-19. The young woman was also diagnosed with pneumonia.
On November 13, Bassett wrote on Facebook, “Today was supposed to be my wedding day. Instead, Stephanie is in the hospital getting her oxygen levels up and I haven’t seen her in two days. This really sucks and I just want everything to not be this way.”
Five Days After Her Wedding Date, the Bride-to-Be Died of Coronavirus
FacebookStephanie Lynn Smith and Jamie Bassett
Bassett said Smith first began feeling symptoms on November 3, ten days before their wedding day, but none of the symptoms of her illness were common COVID-19 symptoms, he told NBC News. He said the symptoms progressed and on November 7, she told him food tasted strange but did not describe it as a loss of taste or smell. They both believed she had shingles, something she was familiar with, so Smith went to get treated for that.
Smith’s mother, Oralia Smith, told the outlet that her daughter’s death certificate has coronavirus as the cause of death. “She was stressing about the wedding. She went to see the doctor about [shingles], and he gave her medication for that.”
Since she didn’t get better, Bassett took her to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with pneumonia and coronavirus. Because her condition wasn’t too serious, she returned home with instructions to take vitamins and monitor her oxygen levels, her fiance said. A few days later, they brought Smith back to the hospital because her oxygen was low and that was the last time they saw the 29-year-old alive. “We kissed her and told her we would see her and that she would be OK,” Smith’s mother said.
Smith Posted on Facebook Just Days Before Her Death & Seemed Optimistic
FacebookStephanie Lynn Smith and Jamie Bassett
Smith posted on Facebook on November 15 and appeared to be optimistic about her condition, NBC News wrote. She said, “Thankful today for nurses who pray. And will get giddy for me when I show them a photo of my wedding gown. Not out of the woods….far from it. But I promise I’m feeling every single prayer. Thank you!!”
Two days after that post, though, Smith was moved to intensive care because her condition took a turn for the worst. Even then, Bassett said doctors told him “it was not necessarily anything to be extremely concerned about.” He believed she was only moved because she was suffering from anxiety over her diagnosis. “The anxiety did kick in, and they would try to control it, and it would work for a little bit, and it would come right back,” Smith’s mother said.
Smith’s mother said her daughter was struggling with the isolation more than anything. That’s why, on the morning of November 18, the family was overjoyed to find out they could go visit her. Bassett said they arrived early in the morning: “They told us that they’d lost her pulse four times, and they brought her back three times with CPR, and for the last one they couldn’t get her pulse back.” He said when they arrived, Smith had already died.
Her family said they weren’t sure where she contracted the virus, because they were all very careful to avoid it. Smith wore masks even to visit her family and had been working from home before the wedding. Bassett said when he met her, he thought, “This is someone that you don’t meet every day. This is an uncommonly caring and loving person who just wants to fix the world.”
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